Community resistance defeats Canadian mining project in Nicaragua

After years of community resistance to the Vancouver-based B2Gold mining company’s activities in Rancho Grande, in the department of Matagalpa, the Nicaraguan government nixed the project on October 12.

Communities in northern Nicaragua have won a long, hard-fought battle against a Canadian mining company’s plans to open a gold mine. After years of protests and local resistance, the Nicaraguan government nixed the project.

Residents of Rancho Grande, a municipality in the department of Matagalpa, have been fighting to protect their lands and waterways from Vancouver-based company B2Gold’s ‘El Pavón’ open pit gold mining project. Locals have organized marches, boycotts and other actions to demonstrate their overwhelming opposition to mining.

On October 12, the Nicaraguan government announced that the mining project would not proceed. Environmental officials determined the project was non-viable, government communications coordinator Rosario Murillo told reporters at the daily press briefing.

“The conclusion of all the environmental experts is that the project is not viable due to the impacts it would have on the surroundings, on nature, on the environment, on people’s way of life, [and] on water sources in general,” said Murillo, who is also the wife of Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega.